“We’re focusing on autonomous systems,” Cook said in a June 5
interview on Bloomberg Television that amounted to his most
detailed comments yet on Apple’s automotive plans. “It’s a core
technology that we view as very important.” He likened the effort
to “the mother of all AI projects,” saying it’s “probably one of
the most difficult AI projects to work on.” […]

In the interview on Bloomberg Television, Cook was hesitant to
disclose whether Apple will ultimately manufacture its own car.
“We’ll see where it takes us,” Cook said. “We’re not really saying
from a product point of view what we will do.”

It’s kind of surprising to hear Cook speak so openly about this. Why now, with no product to speak of? I mean, this is a company that will not publicly acknowledge that they’re planning to release new iPhones this September.

I can think of a few reasons. First, there’s no reason not speak about it as an area of interest, because public filings with regulatory agencies prevent Apple from being entirely secret about these efforts. It might also be a sort of recruiting effort for AI talent – a way of emphasizing publicly that Apple is serious about autonomous systems.

(Lastly, I’ll note that Cook spoke of “autonomous systems” in general, not “self-driving cars” specifically. He did speak of the disruptive opportunities in the car industry, but “autonomous systems” could include any sort of device that moves around on its own accord.)